
*Sxy 






SPEECH 



OF, 



J. THOMAS STEVENSON, 



OF BOSTON. 



Delivered at Worcester, Sept. 12, 1860. 



Mr. President and gentlemen of the Conven- 
tion : I feel that I am highly honored by an invi- 
tation to address such an assembly as this. 

Sent up here by the men of Massachusetts,who 
are sick and tired of a senseless wrangle about a 
pure abstraction, who believe that the time has 
come when the great interests of the people of 
the States should no longer be postponed to 
needless quarrels about the rights and duties 
of the people of the Territories 5 who think that 
the powers of the government, both State and 
National, ought to be taken out of the hands of 
men, whose trade is party politics, and entrusted 
for a time, at lenst until the augean stable can be 
purged by passing through it the cleansing tor- 
rent of a popular will, to the care of those whose 
beacon lights will be the fives of patriotism, and 
whose purpose in accepting office will bs the pro- 
motion of the welfare of the nation, and not their 
own emolument or ease ; sent here by those who 
feel that the men of the North and the men of 
the South are one people, brothers and kindred, 
and that whoever says or does anything unneces- 
sarily, anywhere, to alienate the kind feelings 
and the fraternal regard, which ought to prevail 
among the inhabitants of the several States, is 
wantonly inflicting wounds, that may and proba- 
bly will fester into hates, and so is an enemy to 
the Republic ; by those who think that we have 



had enough of men in public place, who steer by 
the weather-cock instead of by any of the fixed 
stars ; who are tired of those, who seem to think 
that public station is nothing but a reward for 
partizan effort, and that the election of candi- 
dates is an end to be sought and not means only 
to be used, who measure their country's good 
by their own gain, and belong to one or the 
other party only as they hope to gather the spoils* 
who cry out anti-slavery where no slavery exists, 
and would probably be threateners of disunion 
for slavery's sake, if they lived where slavehold- 
ers had votes to give ; sent here by men who do 
not believe that extreme opinions concerning the 
local institutions of other States or avowed sym- 
pathy with him, who could put arms into the 
hands of the black man to be used against the 
white man, are the only qualifications for the of- 
fice of Governor of Massachusetts, by citizens 
who realize that moderate counsels are what is 
most needed, that cool and welded judgments are 
safer guides than heated passions, and therefore 
that neither the madcap self-styled philanthro- 
pists of the North, nor the madcap and arrogant 
extremeists of the South, are fit men to control 
the destinies of this people ; and who are ready 
to stand flat-footed on the platform of " The Un- 
ion, the Constitution, and the Enforcement of the 
Laws," where they can shake hands in a cordial 



SPEECH OF 






fellowship with every true patriot in the land ; 
sent up here as delegates by such men, we are 
honored by the trust and have a duty to per- 
form. 

That duty is to nominate and to recommend to 
the voters of this State, fit men for the h'gh 
places in their government, and honorable men 
for national electors, who, if appointed, will cast 
their votes for John Bell of Tennessee for Presi- 
dent, and Edward Everett of Massachusetts for 
Vice President. 

Such is our duty ; and, as 1 look around me, I 
cannot doubt that it will be so performed that 
this day's work will commend itself to the re- 
gard and support of the sober-minded citizens of 
the Commonwealth. 

On the national field, four candidates are be- 
fore the people for their suffrages. 

The Democratic party, with a lavishness which 
it could ill afford, has nominated two candidates, 
— one for the North and the other for the South, 
thus rendering it absolutely certain in advance 
that neither of them can be elected. 

The party which, with cool presumption, has 
appropriated to itself the universal name of Re- 
publican, has nominated a candidate for the 
North, thus making it absolutely certain that he 
ought not to be elected 

Delegates of the people,who see great dangers 
in the courses of both of the existing political 
parties, have nominated a candidate for the whole 
country, entitled to and looking for support both 
in the North and in the South, making it certain 
that good men in both sections, who think that 
our Union is worth preserving and that our Con- 
stitution is worth the trouble of a vote, can unite 
for the elevation of the politics of the country 
and the restoration of domestic harmony. 

When the nomination of John Bell and Ed- 
ward Everett was first made, crafty opponents 
cried out, " It is in vain t u vote for those gentle' 



The " chance " is to be created by the very 
votes which you are urged to withhold because 
the " chance " does not exist. 

The fact that Mr. Breckinridge, who has upon 
him the taint of the present administration, can 
receive but a handful of votes in one section of 
the country, coupled with the fact that Mr. Dou- 
glas, although he bid so high for Southern sup- 
port in the wicked violation of the Missouri Com- 
promise, cannot muster a corporal's guard in the 
other, makes it plain that the only real practical 
issue at the approaching election is between John 
Bell and Abraham Lincoln. 

Choose ye, whether you will be instrumental in 
electing the latter as a Northern President to 
govern the South, or the former as a President of 
these United States to govern the country. 

I am not one of those who are willing to at- 
tribute to the men in Massachusetts,who,beguiled 
by their smypathies, are lending too willing ears 
to the proposal to build up a political party in 
the North, which shall expect no adherents in 
the South, a readiness to do anything which they 
think would tend to a dissolution of this Union, 
for the preservation of which torrents of Saxon 
blood, flowing in New England veins, would be 
poured out, if needed. They can have no such 
wicked intention as that. Far be it from me to 
impute it to them. 

It is to be hoped that the day will soon return 
when the American citizen who does not feel the 
obligations of the Constitution of his country, will 
be ranked as he would have been by your fath- 
ers, with the infidel in religion and the seducer 
in morals ; when he who should threaten to pro- 
mote a dissolution of the Union or presume to 
put an estimate upon its priceless value, will take 
rank with him who could cou.it in coin the value 
of his own soul. 

But I do say that the existence of such a po- 
litical party, sectional in its nature and sectional 



men, eminently fit as they both are, because they in its purpose, and confined within geographical 



have no chance of an election," and some timid 
friends listened to the cowardly suggestion. 

But the " no chance " argument is played out. 
It would be as reasonable for a farmer to omit to 
to sow his seed, because he had no chance of a 
crop unless he planted, as it is for those who re- 
ally prefer Bell and Everett to any of the other 
candidates to omit to vote for them, 
they have no chance." 



lines, is pregnant with evils that ought to make 
good citizens pause before they get entangled in 
its meshes. 

Realizing that the chief corner-stone of the 
fabric of our institutions is the great principle 
that the laws upon every subject not delegated 
to the general government shall be enacted by 
because! local legislatures and enforced by local tribunals, 
I do say that the inevitable tendency, and final 



IN EXCHA^- 



J. THOMAS STEVENSON. 



catastrophe of such a party, having its existence 
only in the North, while it finds its origin and 
its objects only in the local laws of the South, 
must be such an alienation of feeling, such bitter- 
ness and hate as will be utterly inconsistent with 
the safety of that fabric. 

The party which, passing by Mr. Seward, the 
only statesman in its ranks, has nominated Mr- 
Lincoln, is not based upon the common rights 
and common interests of the people of this coun- 
try. 

Its projectors have dug the trench for its foun- 
dation across the lot, instead of around it. 

It is avowedly based upon the difference which 
exists between the two sections of the country. 

It is founded on the fact — it has its sole origin 
in the fact — that slavery is permitted in some of 
the States by the people, and not permitted in 
other of the States by the people. Its platform 
of fundamental principles necessarily excludes 
from itself the whole people of nearly one half 
of the United States. 

Upon such a foundation it must be impossible 
to build up a party that shall be fit to have the 
supreme control of the affairs of this Union. 

It would be converting one half of these sov- 
ereign States into provinces, so far as the Gener- 
al Government is concerned, and remanding then- 
inhabitants back into a territorial condition. 

No structure could be raised on such a founda- 
tion, excepting one that should be used for pur- 
poses of alienation, or as an armory for civil 
wars. 

No structure would stand on such a foundation 
in which you could maintain the equal rights of 
the people, whichever of the States they dwell 
in, and no one will deny that the maintenance of 
those rights, uninvaded, is essential to the per- 
petuity and the progress of this Republic. 

Upon what was this nation, as a separate and 
independent people, founded ? 

Upon the common interests of the people of the 
different provinces. 

What lighted the fires of the Revolution 
which fused the richest jewel out of the crown of 
England ? 

The common rights of the men of the Northern 
Provinces and of the Southern Plantations. 

What nerved the arms of the patriots then for 
a seven years' war ? 

A sense of their common wrongs. 



What, after independence had been secured 
made the union of these separate provinces into 
the United States not only desirable but neces- 
sary ? 

A clear perception of the common rights, the 
common safety, the common interests, the common 
hopes, and the common destiny of this people, 
from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf, and from the 
Atlantic to as far west as Saxon blood should 
flow. 

Differences existed then as now. But it was 
the agreements, and not the differences between 
the Provinces that winged the American eagle 
for its imperial flight. 

But all this is to be forgotten or changed ; and 
men, who call themselves Republicans, are 
stretching every nerve to build up a party which 
shall array the whole people of the North in solid 
column against the whole people of the South in 
as certainly a solid column. 

Sir, the success of such an effort would be 
fraught with real evils and real dangers which 
every good citizen must shrink from the contem- 
plation of. 

The great danger in our track to-day is the 
success of this geographical party. The great evil 
that is impending to-day is the election of its 
candidates. 

The only fixed and stationary beacon, lighted 
with the fires of patriotism, against that danger is 
the Constitutional Union party. The only instru- 
ment which can avert that evil is the election of 
its candidates. 

The party opposed to us in Massachusetts held 
its convention two weeks since, in this place. 

Now there are in all parties, there must be, 
various shades of opinion. Extreme views are 
not really entertained by the great body of any 
party which can long maintain a foothold among 
our people. 

But in that convention the darkest shades pre- 
vailed. The extremes of the extremists had their 
own way, both in the counsels and in the acts of 
that body. 

Whether we look at the speech of the Senator 
of Massachusetts or at the address of the Com- 
mittee, we find no tones of moderation there, and 
the nomination of Mr. Andrew for Governor is 
one, which the delegates will find it very hard to 
justify to the sober-minded, conservative men of 
their own party. 



speech of 



Is it not worthy of a passing remark, that the 
first time for six years, a Senator of Massachusetts 
has had an opportunity to confer with and to ad- 
dress his constituents, it should not have occurred 
to him that there might be other topics of public 
interest worthy of mention, besides the legal re- 
lations of men in other communities, with which 
those constituents have nothing to do ? 

Are the interests of agriculture, the great hu- 
manizer, not worth the thoughts of a legislator ? 

Is commerce, the civilize r of the nations, too 
insignificant for his regard ? 

Are manufactures, giving honorable employ- 
ment to so many of our people, entitled to no 
care ? 

Are the mechanic arts, elevating as they do so 
many of our strong-armed men, entitled to no 
consideration ? 

Have white men in Massachusetts no interests 
to be affected for good or for evil by the action of 
the Government, and claiming the thoughts and 
time of their representatives ? 

These things seem to be all nothing, or forgot- 
ten, and a fruitless wrangle about a pure abstrac- 
tion, and that too in regard to an evil for which 
no remedy is proposed, and on a question which 
soil and climate will ultimately settle, appears to 
be the only thing entitled to the regard of the 
men of Massachusetts. 

It is not easy to say which is to be most ad- 
mired, the Senatorial dignity or the refined wit 
of the Senator's allusion to Mr. Everett, and to 
the men who support him as their candidate for 
Vice President. 

Was it not eminently dignified, was it not su- 
perlatively witty to liken the nomination of Ed- 
ward Everett to the purchase of a second-hand 
brass door-plate, and the active, substantial, in- 
telligent and industrious men, who support him, 
to a foolish old woman ? 

The Senator from Massachusetts has, I believe 
achieved for himself the very questionable honor 
of being the first man occupying a high public 
place, political friend or political foe, who has 
spoken of our candidates in any other terms than 
those of unqualified respect. 

It would have better accorded with the official 
position of a United States Senator, who occu- 
pies a chair which would be more useful as well 
as more eloquent if it were vacant, to have staid 
at home and held his peace, rather than to have 



travelled to Worcester to peddle such poor stuff 
as that. 

It is objected that the party which supports 
Bell and Everett are pro-slavery men. 

Whoever makes such a charge must know bet- 
ter when he is guilty of its utterance. Whoever 
has enjoyed opportunities of knowing many of the 
men so 6poken of, must knowjjthat they are and 
always have been opposed to slavery in all its 
forms, whether it be the slavery of the black man 
to his master who cares for him, or the slavery of 
the white man to a morbid passion for notoriety 
which corrupts him. 

We all know that there is but one judgment 
here on that subject, and that there is but one 
line of division which can be drawn. On one 
side of that line stand those who, sincere in their 
opposition to the extension of slavery, still feel 
and acknowledge and are ready to be controlled 
by the obligations of the Constitution of our 
country ; while on the other side of it stand 
those who are prepared to disregard or to break 
down all barriers in their pursuit of this one ob- 
ject. 

Everybody knows that the men, who cousti- 
tute the Union party here, always have looked 
upon slavery as a dreadful evil ; but that it is an 
evil over which we of Massachusetts have no con- 
trol, and for which no remedy is suggested ex- 
cept poisoned taunts and remenations, which have 
had no other effect than to rivet fetters that were 
ready to be unbound, so that they may not be 
broken for years. 

Whoever, therefore, whatev^ r his purpose may 
be, deliberately declares that, the party, which you 
to-day represent, is composed of " pro-slavery 
men," in any legitimate acceptation of the term, 
is either a monomaniac, or he means to deceive, 

John Bell of Tennessee, an exponent of pro- 
slavery ! 

His record, which is open without a blot on it> 
puts to shame the allegation. 

He who has stood up with Roman firmness for 
a generation in a steady opposition to the here- 
sies of ultra men in his own section and among 
his own constituents for the defence of the equal 
rights of the North and of the South ; he who 
stood, like the man that he is, beside John Quin- 
cy Adams through all his struggle for the right 
of petition ; he who opposed with a glowing elo- 
quence the annexation of Texas for the same rea- 



J. THOMAS STEVENSON. 



oris which you did it, till opposition was in vain; 
he who stood up before the Senate to denounce 
the repeal of the Missouri compromise, as a vio- 
lation of good faith towards his northern brethren, 
till his own constituents were blind enough to 
call him home ; he who to-day finds opposition 
in the South only on the ground that he is too 
friendly to northern interests, may well wonder 
when he is described as a pro-slavery candidate. 

The argument of the Republicans is that it is 
proved by the recent election that Mr. Bell en- 
joys the confidence of the people of the South, 
and that this is reason enough why we should 
withhold from him our own. 

Has it come to this? Can no patriotic ser- 
vices, can no steady adherence to principle, can 
no determined defence of the rights and care for 
the interests of the North as well as the South, 
entitle any man to' the confidence of the people 
of both ? 

Is the fact that a statesman may have been 
born and bred south of Mason and Dixon's line 
reason enough in itself why he cannot have the 
confidence of the people of sixteen of tthe Staes 
of this Union ? Is the fact that a statesman may 
have been born and bred north of that line reason 
enough in itself why he cannot have the confi 
dence of the people of fifteen of the States of this 
Union ? Has that time arrived ? If it has, lis- 
ten ! for the knell of this Republic will be toll- 
ing. 

The other objection to the Constitutional Union 
party which the Senator states, is that they deal 
in " plausible generalities." 

Generalities, indeed ! Loyalty to the Constitu- 
tion of the country, the people's law, which the 
people themselves have made, which, like the 
heavens, is over and above each and all of us, for 
the protection of the humblest of us all, as well 
as for the restraint of those who are called upon 
for a season to administer the government, which 
is ours, and which no man or magistrate may 
raise an impious hand to touch without bringing 
down upon his devoted head the quick lightnings 
of a people's indignation ! 

Expressions of loyalty to that Constitution are 
in the judgment of the Senator who has sworn 
to support it, plausible generalities ! 

Love of the Union of these United States, the 
charmed circle within whose circumference the 
rights and honor and prosperity and progress and 



glory of this great nation, and of this favored 
people are secure from all sorts of foes, domestic 
as well as foreign ! 

Confessions of this love are plausible generali- 
ties too ! 

A determination to uphold and to see to the 
enforcement of such laws as may be duly enacted 
by the proper authorities. 

The distinct avowal of such a determination, is, 
it appears, a plausible generality in a community 
where the law, as it exists, is the only legitimate 
sovereign, to whom the allegiance of each of us 
is due. 

We are blessed by the fact that we live under 
<' a government of laws, and not under a govern- 
ment of men ;" and all the loyalty, all the re- 
spect, all the devotion, which under other forms 
of government are claimed for the sovereign, be- 
cause he is the sovereign, are due from us to the 
law, because it is the law. 

Tell us of motion, without space. Tell us of 
the heavens, without stars confined to their or- 
bits. Tell us of the light and heat without the 
'mperial sun. Tell us of streams without water. 
Tell us of home without comforts. Tell us of 
man without a soul. Tell us of Christianity) 
without a regard for the precepts of Him who 
spoke as never man spake. But do not talk of a 
republic without a sacred regard to law because it 
is law. He who does not promote the due enforce- 
ment of law is not fit for an American republican. 
Plausible gen eralities, indeed ! But they are 
" glittering generalities," and they glitter because 
they are gold. 

Four years ago this " single harp with a thou- 
sand strings," or, rather, these thousand harps 
with a single string, uttered no note but wailings 
for the people of Kansas. The rights and inter- 
ests, the present wants and future prospects of 
those who had gone there, were the burden of the 
Republican song. No means were left untried to 
excite the sympathy, and to call into action the 
tender regards of our people for the suffering- in- 
habitants of Kansas. 

Well, Kansas is still there — and famine and 
fever are feeding on her people ; but wheie are 
the philanthropic efforts of these same men in 
their behalf? They could furnish Sharp's rifles 
for political adventurers then — but they have no 
bread for starving women and children now. 
It being generally known that the soil and the 



SPEECH OF 



climate forbid slavery going there — so that no 
political capital can be made by these pretenders 
out of it — the freemen who have gone there may- 
starve and die and be forgotten, and the harp is 
silent. 

What good have these men done by the course 
which they hive pursued ? None whatever. 

Twenty-five years ago there were better foun- 
dations than now for the hope that the day was 
approaching when, through the slow but sure 
operation of legitimate causes, the number of 
slave States in this Union would be diminished 



probably Kentucky, would have been rejoicin 
to-diy as free States in this Union, had it not 
been for the cruel taunts and upbraidings and 
unjust denunciations which have formed the web 
and woof of Northern abolitionism, and which 
have been mistaken 'it the South for expressions 
of Northern sentiment. 

I would as soon taunt a Northern man for the 
crime of his father, which he could not have been 
accessory to, or for the backsliding of his son, 
oyer which he was shedding bitter tears as he of- 
fered up his prayers to God for his reformation, 



Then, in Maryland and Virginia and Kentucky as I would taunt a Southern fellow-citizen on ac- 
the abrogation of laws recognizing the existence count of the existence of slavery in the commu- 
of slavery was a subject of discussion among the nities in which his lot has been cast. 



people themselves, who alone possess the power 
of acting in the premises 



I would as soon jeer a Northern man for a per- 
sonal deformitv, for which Heaven had vouch- 



The truth that its existence was a great social safed no remedy, as I wjuld a Southern man for 
evil to eradicate which it was becoming of men I the doom that is on him of a great social evil for 
to make present sacrifices for future advancement, I which no remedy has been devised. 

But Northern abolitionists have by their jeers 
and taunts interfered with the gradual operation 
of beneficent causes in the States which I have 
mentioned, if in the present existence of slavery 
there be a sin against humanity and against God, 
that sin lies mainly at the doors of psuedo-phi- 
lanthropists, and ought to be a weight upon their 
hea rts. 

Akin to these taunts and denunciations by in- 
dividuals and calculated to produce the same ef- 
fect, is the passage by partizan legislatures of 
such laws as that known here by the name of the 
Personal Liberty Bill. 

That law ignores the fact that our civil freedom 
is secured by a system, double but not complica- 



was presenting itself, as the truth alone can, upon 
the convictions of those in whose hands and un- 
der whose sole control the local laws of those 
States were. 

Men there saw and felt and acknowledged the 
difference between two communities, in one of 
which the solid yielded its increase to the willing 
and cheerful labor of the white man, in the other 
of which it must be moistened by the unpaid 
sweat of the black man. 

The means, the mode, the time of removing 
the blight were subjects of daily and open public 
discussion. 

What has undermined those foundations ? 
What has made a total wreck of those humane 



hopes? What silenced that debate ? What put ted, of two distinct governments, each supreme 

in its own sphere, each limited in its powers by a 
written constitution. It ignores the fact that 
each inhabitant of Massachusetts possesses rights 
and is liable to duties as one of the people of the 
United States, and that the allegiance which each 
of us owes to the government of the country in 
its sphere, is just as complete and just as obliga- 
tory as that which he owes to the government of 
the State in its sphere. 

The dome of the Capitol does not rest upon 
the pillars of the States. Its foundation is in the 
will and the loyalty of the people, irrespective of 
the States in which they live. 

The State has no more right to limit your alle- 
giance to the general government than any for- 



a dead stop to that discussion ? What palsied 
the tongue of the philanthropist there ? What 
shut the opening eyes of those people to the great 
truth that the chief burden of slavery in this 
country rests upon and must be borne by the 
white men where it is tolerated ? 

There is but one answer to these questions. It 
was the apprehended interference of Northern 
men with institutions that they had and could 
have nothing to do with. It was the lip-philan- 
thropy of men who were powerless for any act. 
It was the indecent bickering and taunts of Nar- 
thern extremists concerning the local laws of 
their Southern brothers 

It is plain that Maryland and Virginia, and 



J. THOMAS STEVENSON. 



eign power has to do the same thing. The peo- 
ple of Massachusetts are not nuilifiers. Yet this 
law makes full allegiance to the United States, 
on the part of the individual, a crime in Massa- 
chusetts. 

Every Republican has duties to be performed, 
as well as rights to be enjoyed, and one of the 
highest of those duties is to facilitate the enforce- 
ment of the laws ; yet this statute threatens an 
infamous punishment to the citizen's support of 
the laws of the land. 

Tell it not in Gath! Publish it not in the 
streets of Askelon ! that here, where Otis and 
Quincy and Hancock and Adams were ready to 
devote their mighty energies for the establish- 
ment of this Union and the support of this Con- 
stitution, men should be found, with the same 
names perhaps, but moved by a widely different 
spirit, to put upon your statute book a law, the 
only purpose of which is to nullify the one, and 
the only effect of which is to loosen the bonds o 
the other. 

What would John Adams have said, had any 
one told him in 1793 that a generation would 
not have passed over his honored grave before 
the statutes of his own state would declare it to 
be a felony to aid in the execution of a law Con- 
gress enacted to carry out a plain provision of 
the Constitution of the country ? 

He would have cried cut : " Cease from your 
insane ravings ! I know the men of Massachu' 
setts, and her women, too ; and they are not ca- 
pable of bearing a progeny to do so base a thing 
as that." And he would have said it in tones 
which would have petrified the bold prophet, as 
he stood before him predicting only the realities 
of to-day. 

What would John Hancock have done if such 
a vote had been sent into the Council chamber 
for his approval ? 

He would have returned it to the House in 
which it originated, with this message: " I 
withhold my approval from this bill, because I 
should be a traitor if I signed it." 

The only difference between libert) and anar- 
chy consists in the enforcement of Law, and yet 
the candidate of the Republican party, whose chief 
duty, if elected, would be to enforce the laws — 
whose title would be " Chief Executive Magis- 
trate," and who would not be permitted to enter 
upon his duties until he had held up his hand 



and sworn before the people and his God that he 
will faithfully execute the laws, tells us in a 
speech, which he made after his nomination to 
those whose votes he hopes to receive, that he 
(going further even than the giddy senator) es- 
pecially objects to our doctrine that the laws 
ought to be enforced, and denounces that doc- 
trine as a heresy in a Republic, and as worthy on- 
ly of the rule of despots and tyrants. 

Let the people of Massachusetts ponder on 
such declarations as these, and run them out to 
their legitimate and inevitable results, and thy 
would no more vote to make a Governor of Mr. 
John A. Andrew than they would vote for a dis- 
tinct proposition so to alter our frame of Gov- 
ernment that we should have a government of 
men instead of a government of laws. 

It is to be hoped that our conservative fellow- 
citizens will pay more attention, than they have 
lately done, to the election of. proper men to re- 
present them in the legislature. 

Your State House at Boston has not been oc- 
cupied of late by such men as made Massachusetts 
what she is. 

It has been the burial place ef loyalty to the 
constitution of the country. 

Laws have been enacted, affecting the general 
interests and the rights of individuals, such as 
can be justified to no patriot and no true Ameri- 
can republican. 

Statesmanlike views, on any subjects of pub- 
lic concern or of private inteiests, have been the 
exception rather than the rule there. 

Too many of the law-givers for this people 
have been the time-servers and office-seekers of 
the land. 

Too many have gone there for the good they 
could get, rather than for the good they could 
do. 

Too few of them have been the chosen men, 
who have achieved for themselves honorable po- 
sitions in the various callings and professions of 
life. 

The lawyers there have not been the same men 
to whom their neighbors and fellow-citizens are 
wont to give retainers for the care and manage- 
ment of their private affairs. 

The doctors, who have been there, to tend the 
body politic, have not been those, whom their 
own neighbors have invoked when they or their 
children were invaded by disease. 



SPEECH OF J. THOMAS STEVENSON. 



The ministers, who have been there, have not! system of log- rolling and a vicious system of lob' 
been the eminent religious teachers and spiritual bying by hired traffickers in the laws? 
guides, who have adorned our pulpits and com- The State House has been painted this fall, 
forted our homes. The government has whitentd the outside of the 

The merchants, who have been there, have j sepulchre ; it is time that the people should pu- 
not been those, to whom private interests are rify it within. 

confidently entrusted and whose aid and advice We seek no offices. Our only purpose is our 
and promises to pay are sought for by others. country's good. Our only aim is domestic peace. 

The mechanics, who have been there, have Our cause is just, let our Union be perfect, 
not been the men, who by an honest and enter-: Let the army at the North entrench itself, if it 
prise, an intelligent industry, and a faithful in- will, on the crust of a volcano. Let the army of 
tegrity, have secured for themselves honora-jthe South beat to quarters where it will, but let 
ble and proud positions in this community of i the militia of the country rally around the stan- 
working men. jdard, which has the Union, the Constitution, the 

The farmers, who have been there, have not Enforcement of the Laws distinctly inscribed 
been the men, who are missed from their homes, upon it, and march on, armed only with the 
when the sessions have been prolonged. peaceful ballot, with John Bell on the right 

There are of course exceptions (all honor to jflank and Edward Everett on the left flank, and 
them) to each of these propositions. But, I sub- when the sun goes down on the sixth day of No- 
mit that, as a general rule, they serve as a pic- 



ture, true as a daguerreotype, of the kind of 
men, who have been sent into the public coun- 
cils, and so entrusted with the public interests. 

How many of the laws, which they pass in 
shoals, have been the result of careful examina- 
tion, of a recognition of principles, of a clear in- 
sight into their necessary and legitimate practi- 
cal effects ? 

How many more have found their origin, their 
foundation and their whole support in a modern 



vomber, the broad arches of the heavens will be 
ringing with the jubilant cheers of a happy peo- 
ple. 

Let the army of the people but unite in one 
prayer and one effort, then will the cbuds, which 
have been lowering be rent asunder, and the 
star of our country's glory, brightened by the 
darkness, will shine forth in its nnridian splen- 
dor, promising pence with the nations and good 
will among the States. 



ADDRESS 

TO THE PEOPLE OF MASSACHUSETTS, 



ADOPTED AT THE 



UNION CONVENTION, 
Held at Worcester, Sept. 12, 1860. 



Fellow Citizens : The Delegates of the 
Union Party, assembled in Convention at Wor- 
cester, beg leave to address you briefly on the 
subject of the approaching election. Whether 
considered in reference to the United States or 
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, it is an 
election of unusud importance, and the possible 
issues are such as cannot be regarded without 
great anxiety. It cannot be disguised, however 
earnestly it may be disclaimed, that the Republi- 
can party is purely a sectional party, and con- 
ducted under influences which necessarily confine 
it to one section of the country. It no doubt 
embraces persons who entertain various shades of 
opinion, from the conservatism generally express- 
ed in its platforms, down to the unconstitutional 
and even treasonable radicalism of the original 
founders of a party on the basis of anti-slavery 
agitation. In fact, the openly and recently avow- 
ed doctrine of the acknowledged head of the 
party, that it aims to establish the government of 
the country " on those eternal laws of God's 
Providence which regulate ihe Universe," is a 
plain declaration of a purpose of trampling alike 
on laws, constitutions and tribunals, whenever, in 
the ethics of a paity confined to one section of 
the country, they are deemed inconsistent with 
( 'a higher law." 



Such a party must ofl necessity be purely, ag- 
gressively and offensively sectional in a confeder- 
ate republic, consisting of a union of States di- 
vided almost equally in reference to the great 
subject of controversy which now convulses the 
country. It is accordingly notorious that the Re. 
publican party does not expect to obtain a single 
electoral vote in the Southern States, and in three 
or four only of the border States will there be a 
show made of running an electoral ticket. 

The hopelessly sectional character of the Re- 
publican party is seen in the fact that, vulnerable 
as it feels itself on this point, it was not able in 
1856, nor has it been able in 1860, to find a sin- 
gle individual in,the Southern States deemed suit- 
able as a candidate for the Vice Presidency, who 
would accept a nomination for that office. Such 
being the case in reference to the second office, 
it will for the same reason be impossible to find 
persons of character and position at the South 
who will take any part in carrying on the gov- 
ernment under a sectional President. If any in- 
dividual of that description could be found, he 
would be regarded as so unfaithful to the public 
opinion of the community to which he belongs 
as to carry no strength to the administration o*" 
which he became a member. In fact, Republi- 
can speakers and journalists have not scrupled to 



10 



ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



zit:::"i h ;J;ri:ii*i 'rL\ to, f i :i v r u ^-« - ■«* ^^v^^> 



the government of the country into their hands." 
% No one, we presume, can imagine that the 
union of the States could long suhsist, if such a 
condition of things were permanently established 
Accordingly the conservative organs of the Re- 
publican party endeavor to produce the impress- 
inn, that the " governed section," finding that the 



paid to the memory of its deluded leader— these 
causes have not only wholly destroyed the tenden- 
cy toward Northern sentiment, which once ex- 
tensively prevailed at the South, but have added 
ncalculably to the strength of the opposite feel- 
ing. There is very high authority for the opin- 
ion, that nothing has so effectually delayed the 



■d ,,. ' o ««= '"", uui uouiing nas so ettectual v c e aven thp 

Repuhhcan party entertains no intentions hostile advance of Northern sentiment nDe™ 
eir const.tu.ional ,ghts, will gradually cease Maryland, Virginia. Kentucky, a d" £ZT2 
regard :t with apprehension, and will finalh the formation and efforts of tie party wh^'un 



adopt its principles and support its candidates. 

That any one who reads the leading journals 
and campaign d -cuments, listens to the Congres- 
sional speeches, and considers the associations and 
antecedents of many of the candidates of the 
Republican party, can seriously suppose that it 
will eventually prevail at the South, is a striking 
illustration of the extravagance of party delu- 
sion. It would be just as reasonable to affirm 
that Kossuth would probably assume the com- 
mand of the body guard of the Austrian Empe- 
ror, or Garibaldi accept the post of chief of po- 
lice under the King of Naples. 

So far is it from being true, that the Republi- 
can party is promoting the spread of Northern 
sentiment in the Southern States, that it is a no- 
torious fact that the precisely opposite effect has 
been produced. The great obstacle to tbe cause 
of emancipation in all the border States, espec- 
ially in Missouri, has been the identification of 
that cause with the anti-slavery agitation of the 
North. Less than thirty years ago, the whole 
subject of slavery, and the expediency of pros- 
pective measures for its removal, were discussed 
in the Legislature of Virginia with the utmost 
freedom. Opinions upon both points in entire 



conformity with Northern sentiment were em condemning h ! r ^^ ^7 

Piratically reclaimed bv Wl,™ uJJ J^ 1 ™^ theSe (hsumon sentiments, declare 



der the varying name of the Abolition party, the 
Liberty party, the Free Soil party and the Re- 
publican party, is regarded at the south as one 
and the eame organization, and viewed with feel- 
ings of the most uncompromising hostility. 

To suppose that such a party is to become pop- 
ular at the South by monopolizing the "govern- 
ment," is of course simply absurd. To what 
practical extent the disaffection will be carried, 
no one can foresee, as no one can tell to what ex- 
tent the conservative wing of the Republican party 
will be goaded on by the extremeists, who are 
rapidly acquiring the predominance in its coun- 
sels. It is well known that there is at the South 
a party— we trust a small one— of professional 
disunionists ; and it is a significant fact, that this 
party makes no secret of its wish that the Re- 
publican candidate for the Presidency should suc- 
ceed, believing that his election will hasten what 
they desire to bring about,— the separation of the 
States. A much more numerous party, not oreat- 
ly differing from the first in the opinion, that a 
sectional " government " will eventually rend the 
Union, counsels such delay as may enable the 
whole South to move in concert. The conserva- 
tive and Union loving men of the South, warmly 



piratically proclaimed by leading members of all 
parties. Slavery was at that time habitually, we 
may say universally, spoken of at the South as a 
" political, social and moral evil." The agitation 
of the subject at the North by foreign emissaries, 
the flooding of the mails with incendiary pamph- 
lets, the organization and growth of a' party on 
this sole basis, the election to the highest offices 



to us nevertheless, that the permanent establish- 
ment and domination of a sectional party will 
eventually paralyze the Union feeling at the 
Scmh, and they assure us, for this reason, by the 
voice of the revered Crittenden, that they 
should regard the election of the Republican can- 
didate as " A GREAT CALAMITY." 

Considering the lead which has been taken by 



_r _,„„ v , ,• . „-— « '""-""g U1< - ieau wnicn nas t 

of men holding extreme opinion., inflammatory Massachusetts as the centre and 
harangues in Congress and the State legislatures, Northern political feelin* and arTl t'l 



ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



11 



nals, the nomination for Governor of a candidate 
of extreme opinions, is an event well calculated 
to destroy whatever confidence might be enter- 
tained at the South in the professed moderation 
of the framers of the Chicago platform. 

While the Republican ticket, as we have seen, 
does not promise itself a single electoral vote at 
the South, it is doubtful whether the candidate 
nominated by the Southern wing of the Democ- 
racy will receive anything more than a very lim- 
ited popuhr vote at the North. Thus if no mid- 
dle ground could be devised, the country would 
be exposed for the first time in its history, to the 
perils of a fierce and purely sectional antagonism. 
Hap'pily, fellow citizens, we are able to present 
you, in the Union ticket, candidates, the one from 
the South and the other from our own State, who 
can be honorably and constitutionally supported 
in both parts of the country, and whose popular 
ity throughout the Union, is daily attested by the 
most enthusiastic demonstrations in almost every 
State. 

It is objected that the Convention which nom- 
inated our candidates at Baltimore laid down no 
other platform than " the Union, the Constitution 
and the Laws." We reply that the country ask- 
ed, and knew no other platform, in the days of 
our fathers, to whose principles and practices we 
are now exhorted " to return," as to " the right 
and safe course." Washington, and John Adams 
and Jefferson, and Madison, and Monroe, and 
John Quincy Adams, and Jackson, knew no oth- 
er platform, than that on which our candidates 
stand. Of the electionet- ring platforms since con- 
structed, many are " a mockery, a delusion, and 
a snare," admitting any and every interpretation 
which suits the meridian and interests of par- 
ty. This is eminently true of the Chicago plat- 
form. On some points, and those of paramount 
importance in the political discussions of the day, 
it is profoundly silent. Other points are stated 
with studied indefiniteness. Others admit and 
have received opposite interpretations. Others 
express opinions at variance with the known sen- 
timents of the candidate for the Presidency. 
Others are in direct contradiction to the authori- 
tative expositions elsewhere given of the party 
creed. Thus, with reference to that feature of 
the Constitution, of the ordinance of 1787, and 
of the Missouri compromise, which provides for 
the rendition of fugitives from labor — notorious- 



ly one of the most agitating topics of the day — 
the Chicago platform is silent. On the ter- 
ritorial question, it is so obscure and indistinct, as 
to defy coherent interpretation, although it di- 
rectly contradicts the views expressed by Mr. 
Lincoln in his speech at the Cooper Institute, on 
" the control of Congress." 

With reference to domestic industry, one lead- 
ing organ of the Republican party maintains that 
the platform speaks the language of protection ; 
another that it maintains the doctrine of free 
trade. The duty of protecting the rights of nat- 
uralized citizens is asserted, but no attempt is 
made to show what those rights are j which is 
the only question at issue ; while, at the dictation 
of a German member of the Convention, an 
amendment to the Constitution of Massachusetts, 
deliberately adopted by her people, was denounc- 
ed under the profligate threat of a loss of 300,000 
German votes ; an expression of opinion not only 
in direct variance with their previously uttered 
professions of respect for the rights of sovereign 
States, but in open contempt of the well known 
convictions of a large part of the Republican par- 
ty of Massachusetts as to the necessity of elevat- 
ing the standard of qui lifications for the electoral 
franchise. The sentiment that all men are crec 
ated equal was ostentatiously introduced into the 
platform, from the Declaration of Independence 
but the Republican candidate for the Presidency 
emphatically asserted the inferiority of the color 
ed race in the Senatorial canvass of 1858, and 
refused, when requested to do so, to sign a peti 
tion to admit the testimony of colored witnesses 
while Mr. Seward, in his speech of February last, 
asked this question of the South—" Suppose we 
had the power to change your social system, what 
warrant have you for supposing that we should 
carry negro equality among you? We know 
and we will show you, if you will only give heed 
that what our system of labor works out, wher- 
ever it works out anything, is THE EQUALITY OF 
WHITE MEN." 

Lastly, the Chicago platform " denounces the 
act of lawless invasion by an armed force of any 
State or Territory, no matter under what pretext, 
as among the gravest of crimes," while the Re- 
publican Convention of Massachusetts have just 
nominated as Governor the President of a meet- 
ing in which John Br"™"" 1 wn « nnmnarpH fn thp 

Saviour of mankind. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



011 895 873 1 



12 



ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



Such being the character of the Chicago plat- 
form, we need not waste words in defending the 
course of the Union Convention at Baltimore in 
rejecting all professions of principle but those 
which the fundamental law itself prescribes — fi- 
delity to the Union, the Constitution and the 
Laws. 

With these remarks, fellow citizens, we com- 
mit the great issues now before the country to 
your thoughtful and conscientious decision. In 
an especial manner, we ask those members of the 
Whig party, the friends of Webster and Clay, 
who parted company with their old associates in 
1856, and united themselves with leaders and 
followers whom they had for years opposed, — in 
what respect they conceive the principles of the 
Freeioilers in 1848 and 1852 to differ from those 
of the Republicans of the present year ? In 1848 
Abraham Lincoln and William H. Seward, at 
the invitation of the Whig party, visited Boston 
and urged upon her citizens to support Gen. Tay- 
lor and Mr. Fillmore, in opposition to Mr. Van 
Buren and Mr. Charles Francis Adams, the can- 
didates nominated by the Buffalo Free Soil Con- 
vention. Mr. Lincoln thqp urg d upon you that 
a party, based exclusively on anti- slavery agita- 
tion, was of necessity powerless, even for the pro- 
motion of its own views. In 1852, the same gen- 
tlemen supported the nomination of Gen. Scott 
against that of Mr. John P. Hale, the candidate 
of the Free Soil party. Are the principles of 
these candidates, whom they and you opposed in 
1848 and 1852, in any respect different from their 
principles now, or the principles of the Republi- 
can party ? For twenty-five years, under the 
lead of the great and good men whose memories 
you still hold in veneration, you opposed every 
form of party organization, which had the neces 
sary effect of arraying the South and North 
against each other. What can you find in the 
present convulsed and distracted state of the 
country that makes a course of poiicy wise and 
safe now which you deemed to be pernicious 
then ? 

To our Democratic brethren of both wings of 
that party we would appeal to unite with us in 
the promotion of an object which we regard in 



common with you as of transcendant importance, 
We believe that equally with ourselves, you cher- 
ish the Union of the States as the ark of our safe- 
ty, and that in its preservation you repose all 
your hopes for the continued prosperity of the 
country. The division in your ranks will proba- 
bly prevent the success of either wing of your 
own party, and we earnestly invite you to join 
with us, to prevent the triumph of a sectional 
minority and to support the candidates in whom 
North and South may consistently and equally 
confide. 

In conclusion, fellow citizens, we would repeat 
the remark which was made at the commence- 
ment of this address, that " the possible issues of 
the election are such as cannot be regarded with- 
out great anxiety." We are aware that all sug- 
gestions that the Union is in danger, are habitu- 
ally stigmatized either as an attempt at intimida- 
tion on the part of the South, or as an expression 
of unmanly acquiescence on the part of the North. 
It is nevertheless our deliberate conviction, that 
such is the case, and we are fortified in this opin- 
ion by an authority, the weight of which will not 
be denied by Republicans. The Hon. D. D. 
Barnard of New York, makes the following state- 
ment in a published letter : " John Quincy Ad- 
ams, in a private but most earnest and prophetic 
conversation with me, a year before his death, (an 
event which he referred to and anticipated with 
startling and strange exactness) declared his sol- 
emn conviction and belief, that the Union would 
be dissolved in a period which he named, and 
which was separated by a few brief years from 
the time when he was speaking." Mr. Seward, 
in his late speech at Detroit, says, " I have un- 
derstood that John Quincy Adams, the purest 
and wisest statesman I ever knew, died despair- 
ing of a peaceful solutiou of the problem of slave- 
ry." We discharge an incumbent duty, fellow 
citizens, in assuring you that, in our judgment, 
the election of the Republican candidate, by a 
minority vote of the people of the North, and in 
defiance of the opposition of the entire South, 
will be a long and a perilous stride toward the 
fulfilment of these gloomy forebodings. 



Press of J. E. Far well & Co., 32 Congress Street, Boston. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



011 895 873 1 



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